Simon’s Guide to Buying Cheap Duty Free & Tax Free Cigarettes Online

This guide will teach you how to find the best deals on duty free cigarettes and how to avoid scams, when purchasing online. Also, check out the price comparison to see how much money you can actually save by ordering cheap tax free cigarettes online.

UPDATE: New coupon codes for buying cigarettes online were added (you can find the coupon codes at the bottom of the guide).

This guide is a result of my research of duty-free/tax-free cigarettes online. I’m not smoking and I’m actually against it. It’s a bad habit.

My reason for writing this guide:

It all started with my mother. She has been smoking for 20+ years. After my father lost his job (and he remained unemployed for nearly two years) the family’s budget got really tight and I tried to help by finding the cheapest, most discounted cigarettes online for my mother. This is when I stumbled upon duty-free (sometimes called tax free but actually that’s incorrect, explanation can be found here: the difference between duty-free and tax free) shops selling cheap cigarettes online.

It is surprising how much money you can save by buying cigarettes online!

I hope this guide will help you (if you are smoking) or your family (if someone is smoking in your family) to help save money on cigarettes. It certainly helped us a lot.

If you are from Europe or the US you can save a lot of money by ordering cheap cigarettes online (bulk order discount + coupon codes at the bottom, it’s really cheap if you use the coupon).

If you are from any other country, it depends on which country you are from. The price of a pack of cigarettes might still be cheaper in a brick & mortar store in your country, if you are lucky. Taxation of cigarettes is different in each country.

Cigarettes, smokes online

This guide is a result of my research of the US, UK and European online tobacco and online duty-free tobacco products market.

/Offline, brick and mortar duty-free stores are overpriced rip-offs, the price comparison below illustrates this nicely. You shouldn’t shop in duty-free shops at airports, buy tobacco products only at online duty-free stores or you will be ripped off./

Price comparison, buying cigarettes USA, UK, EU

– tobacco, cigars, rolling tobacco etc.. everything will be mentioned

Let’s compare prices and see the results.

There are a lot of online stores selling low quality counterfeits (made in Southeastern Asia and China mostly) or stolen black market cigarettes. Make sure to never order from these shops or you can get into a lot of trouble if customs notices it!

The tutorial after the price comparison will teach you how to identify these illegal vendors.

Price of a pack of cigarettes in a store in the US, breakdown by states

The price of a pack of cigarettes in the US state-by-state in 2016 (interactive map, click on any state to see the price):

UPDATE: Interactive map of the US showing cigarette prices is currently not available. Working on a fix. Check the price table below. New interactive map with updated prices is coming soon.

Here you can see a state-by-state breakdown of a price of a pack cigarettes in brick & mortar shops in each state in 2014, 2013, 2012 and in 2011. the price includes taxes, and the numbers are from the federal government’s website.

/I have include more than one year’s data to give a better overall picture of the decease/increase/fluctuation in the price of a pack of cigarettes in the US./

State

Price of a pack of cigarettes in the USA

2011

2012

2013

2014

Kentucky

$ 4.97

$ 6.56

$ 4.96

$ 5.40

North Dakota

$ 4.91

$ 5.03

$ 5.04

$ 5.33

West Virginia

$ 4.74

$ 4.84

$ 5.07

$ 5.43

Oklahoma

$ 6.19

$ 5.24

$ 5.19

$ 6.29

Idaho

$ 4.99

$ 5.11

$ 5.25

$ 5.41

Missouri

$ 5.58

$ 5.87

$ 5.25

$ 5.25

Louisiana

$ 4.82

$ 5.33

$ 6.50

$ 5.44

Oregon

$ 5.59

$ 5.35

$ 5.74

$ 5.69

Wyoming

$ 5.50

$ 5.21

$ 5.37

$ 5.41

Mississippi

$ 5.75

$ 5.55

$ 5.45

$ 6.34

Nevada

$ 5.93

$ 6.04

$ 5.50

$ 6.15

South Carolina

$ 5.42

$ 6.25

$ 5.55

$ 5.58

Colorado

$ 5.96

$ 5.59

$ 5.19

$ 5.65

Indiana

$ 5.50

$ 5.56

$ 5.77

$ 5.97

Alabama

$ 5.27

$ 5.18

$ 5.80

$ 5.51

Virginia

$ 5.55

$ 5.43

$ 5.81

$ 5.25

Ohio

$ 6.22

$ 5.67

$ 5.88

$ 6.03

Tennessee

$ 5.56

$ 4.91

$ 5.89

$ 5.30

Georgia

$ 5.29

$ 5.93

$ 5.93

$ 6.39

Minnesota

$ 6.53

$ 5.96

$ 5.95

$ 8.10

Florida

$ 6.08

$ 6.29

$ 6.29

$ 6.30

Delaware

$ 6.00

$ 6.10

$ 6.00

$ 6.35

North Carolina

$ 5.51

$ 5.14

$ 6.03

$ 5.45

Nebraska

$ 5.55

$ 5.99

$ 6.09

$ 6.23

Kansas

$ 6.00

$ 6.47

$ 6.21

$ 5.83

Montana

$ 5.99

$ 6.12

$ 6.25

$ 6.46

Arkansas

$ 5.96

$ 7.10

$ 6.50

$ 6.07

New Hampshire

$ 5.87

$ 4.86

$ 6.59

$ 6.44

Utah

$ 7.22

$ 6.88

$ 6.64

$ 6.89

California

$ 5.19

$ 6.45

$ 6.45

$ 5.89

South Dakota

$ 6.03

$ 6.82

$ 6.77

$ 6.08

New Mexico

$ 6.88

$ 6.69

$ 6.91

$ 7.67

Michigan

$ 6.90

$ 6.50

$ 6.50

$ 8.00

Pennsylvania

$ 6.80

$ 6.93

$ 6.95

$ 6.85

Maine

$ 7.97

$ 6.97

$ 7.12

$ 7.37

Texas

$ 6.07

$ 6.89

$ 7.24

$ 6.69

Iowa

$ 6.00

$ 7.52

$ 7.25

$ 6.29

D.C.

$ 7.99

$ 8.27

$ 7.89

$ 7.99

Maryland

$ 6.70

$ 6.53

$ 7.93

$ 7.75

Wisconsin

$ 8.11

$ 7.98

$ 8.11

$ 8.82

Washington

$ 9.89

$ 8.98

$ 8.31

$ 9.30

New Jersey

$ 8.35

$ 8.00

$ 8.55

$ 8.20

Massachusetts

$ 8.30

$ 8.49

$ 8.77

$ 9.95

Connecticut

$ 8.25

$ 8.85

$ 9.30

$ 9.52

Vermont

$ 8.23

$ 7.60

$ 9.52

$ 9.62

Rhode Island

$ 8.60

$ 8.16

$ 9.56

$ 8.95

Alaska

$ 9.14

$ 9.39

$ 9.59

$ 9.79

Arizona

$ 6.87

$ 7.46

$ 9.65

$ 8.05

Hawaii

$ 9.73

$ 10.22

$ 9.68

$ 9.55

Illinois

$ 9.67

$10.25

$ 11.59

$ 11.50

New York

$ 11.90

$ 12.50

$ 14.50

$ 12.85

As you can see the price ranges from $ 12.85 in New York to $ 5.25 in Missouri. Quite a lot of variety among the states. But none of come anywhere close to an online duty free shop.

Here is an example of what sort of prices you can expect in an online duty-free store:

The average price of a non-discounted carton of cigarettes is $ 42

You can get a pack of cigarettes for as low as $ 3(the average is $4.4, depending on the brand). Bulk order discount is possible (bulk order, 2+ cartons).

A pack of cigarettes sells for an unbelievable $ 3.2 per pack online. That’s cheaper than in Missouri by two dollars and $ 9 cheaper than in New York!

There are fours things to keep in mind when you are trying to determine the legitimacy of an e-commerce site:

Common sense: Look at the webpage. Is the website cared for? Or is it looking abandoned and haven’t been updated for a while? Does the website look good?Does it look like how a public face of a company supposed to look like? Does it look like a legitimate, operating e-commerce store? If it doesn’t look cared for, there is probably a good reason for it.

Accepting credit cards: If an online duty-free shop does not accept credit cards you are dealing with a scam. Or it’s a website selling black market cigarettes illegally.

Credit card payment processors have very strict requirements. They are really thorough and if they as much as suspect anything remotely illegal they shut down credit card processing on the website instantly (and also fine the website and alert authorities). Therefore, websites selling illegal cigarettes don’t take credit/debit cards. They prefer anonymous, unregulated payment methods e.g.:

Moneygram

Western union

Geopay

pre-paid virtual cards

cash in an envelope

etc…. Avoid online shops like this.

Contact the webshop before you make a purchase: First of all, make sure you can actually contact them. Contact them and don’t buy anything till they respond.

Scam sites are usually not given much attention. Scammers create hundreds of low quality fake sites and wait till someone falls for one them and gives them sensitive information. They don’t bother replying to customer emails and they definitely don’t provide a phone number.

Websites selling black market cigarettes do not have contact information listed on the website. They know they are doing something illegal and they will try to remain as anonymous as possible.

If you follow the simple step-by-step tutorial above, you will be able to tell the difference between legitimate online businesses and scams.

/You can apply this for every type of e-commerce store, not just online duty-free shops./

Additional tricks:

Check the social media profiles of the store (if they have one of course). Are they abandoned, or are they active?

Check the website for dates (e.g.: “Copyright 2010” in the footer, that would be a warning sign, websites which are not optimized for mobile etc..).

/Of course anyone can put anything on the website. To determine whether it’s true or not, and if you are tech savvy enough, go to Easywhois.com, insert the URL and look at “Creation date:” and “Update date:”. These will tell you without a shadow of a doubt how old the website is, who is behind it, and when was it last updated. But if you just go through the steps above, you can easily tell whether it is a scam without doing this./

Duty-free allowances for cigarettes

/Don’t worry if the order exceeds the duty-free allowance of your country (except in the US and UK, stick to duty free allowances strictly there). They will send only one carton at a time for a period of weeks/months to minimize the risk of getting your order confiscated by customs. Just contact customer support, they will tell you how it goes. But even if they send it all at once it usually arrives./

Legal issues with buying cigarettes online

Ordering cigarettes from online duty-free shops is, in general, perfectly legal. However, certain countries seize your order if it exceeds the limit on duty free products. The UK, and to a lesser extent the US is notorious for this. In those two countries we definitely do not recommend ordering more than the duty free allowance. You can find the duty free allowances here. You should always check the regulations before buying cigarettes, especially in bulk.

The shop I recommend offers a form of insurance to protect buyers. If you decide to pay some extra, your order will be guaranteed to be delivered again if it happens to be seized by customs, free of charge. I strongly suggest using this insurance if you bulk order.

If your shipment is seized or lost for any reason, contact the retailer you bought the smokes from; even if it was uninsured many online shops offer some form of recompense.

Analyzing and comparing prices of cigarettes in the US, UK, Western Europe and Eastern Europe to help people make a better choice when purchasing cigarettes online. And coupon codes for people trying to get the best deals on cigarettes online.

Since you seem to support or work for this site, can you tell me why no one at duty free depot no longer answers the phone or responds to email requests? I placed a large order in august and product has yet to be received and can’t get a human contact. I’m out a lot of money and have nothing to show for it.

I don’t know. Are you sure you are calling the right number (with country code) and using the right email address? I just received an email address from them today, they are definitely still in operation.

I wouldn’t waste your money to be honest. I used this site around once per month. Never had a problem until 3 months ago. I started receiving letters from customs saying my goods had been seized. I thought it was a one off, so placed another order the following month. Again, was seized. They were sent 200 at a time so as I’d places order for 1000, I got 5 letters. It’s not the sites fault and maybe worth a risk at a one off but I won’t be going back.

I’m sorry about that. It’s definitely not the norm (although, not entirely unheard of too). Where do you live btw. ? I’m researching which countries’ customs are likely to seize orders, so I can warn people.

Hi. I’m worried they will get confiscated! I live in UK. I think my limit from outside Europe is 800 but I read somewhere that it was 2,000!! Could you throw some light on that for me as I’m not much of a flyer and find the rules around these restrictions complicated. Many thanks.

OH M G, I am a BUCKEYE and can’t find Marlboro Lights ANYWHERE, can you please help me. the Duty Free site doesn’t have them. I hate Pall Mall and Camel and am not familiar with a lot of the others. I am willing to buy bulk of course 🙂

i used duty free depot to order 1 carton of 200 cigs and they were seized by border force so i tried again and they were seized again. when i contacted duty free depot and explained the situation they refunded some of my money (I did not pay extra for the insurance, otherwise they would have refunded me fully), but now they have blocked me from using the site, what can i do? —– many thanks from mrs lynn jenkins aged 67

No, not really. Your duty-free allowance for those countries is 1 carton per order but If you have more questions please contact the customer support on the site. They are the experts. It’s a live chat, they will tell you everything you need to know.

Thanks for your informative website, Simon. I’m from the UK> Have you ever tried buying from Australia or elsewhere? It looks much cheaper than from the US! 200 Camels from the site you quoted is £67.70 (my friend brings 200 back for £60 when he visits France). I just found £ 31.46 for 200 from Australia. Or is it not legal to buy from Oz to UK? How about Canada elsewhere? Many thanks, B

But even if they do, for this price it must be cheap, low quality counterfeit made in a sweatshop with no quality control or safety precautions (god knows what kind of contaminants are in those cigarettes). Also ordering and importing counterfeit cigarettes is illegal and you can get into trouble if customs seize it.

You keep repeating that if a website doesn’t have a credit card paymenth method is a scam. Well… paying Visa for tobacco products is ILLEGAL and the sites that accept CC have very often problems with the processing companies. Hence, a customer may pay with Visa and never see the product and money back… like it happened on cigz.eu I never saw my order/ my money… but I was assured zillion times that they would pay me back… right! Im sure you wont post my comment, but I assume you are paid for writing all these nice stuff about those sites…

I’m not affiliated with directaxfree.com. If you click on any of the banners you will see that it it is an entirely different website.

“sites that accept CC have very often problems with the processing companies”

I don’t know where you get that from. Especially considering you are talking about a different website and entirely different company.

“I assume you are paid for writing all these nice stuff”

I’m sure you won’t believe me but I’m not paid to write this. However, I do get paid 10% of the total amount of profit the company makes on your purchase if you end up buying anything (and if it gets delivered, I only get paid if you received the order and it is ticked as “shipped” on the affiliate dashboard).

I do need to eat, pay rent and bills like everyone else. Aside from the revenue from my websites I have no other source of income.

Hey Simon, it’s cool what you are doing, thanks for passing on the information. I’m a pro piano player, have been smoking all my life, 61 now. It’s the only vice I’ve got left and I enjoy it. I only smoke White Ox rollies which are now almost $50 per 50g pack here in Australia. It’s ridiculous, can’t afford it. The Gov’t is increasing the tax approx 12% every 6 months, such a ripp off. From what I understand you also sell tobacco? Is this correct? cheers, Goldfingerz

I’m just a simple blogger letting people know about this fantastic opportunity I have discovered. Tobacco is taxed beyond belief in nearly every country. Smoking is becoming a luxury.

I hope I can help people save money by letting them know about how cheap it is to actually order it online. Surprisingly this is a relatively new phenomena and because the restrictions placed on tobacco advertising very few people know about this opportunity.

I was hoping you could help, I don’t smoke but purchased 10 pks of golden Virginia tobacco at duty free for a mate who let me down and left me with them, and I haven’t got a clue what to do all I want is my money back. Can you help, legally of course? PS I have the receipt.

I was about to place my order.. While I was looking for the Tobacco allowances in the HMRC website I came across the comment “To qualify for the tax/duty free allowances you must transport the goods yourself.”

For the once who are interested Tobacco allowances: 200 cigarettes 100 cigarillos 50 cigars 250g of tobacco

So don’t even try the Old Holborn Yellow as they only sell (at the moment anyway) one carton of 10x50g (=500g) and the allowance is excited.

You need to update your costs for Missouri, you are way to high. We are much much lower than this amount. And as for this company you are promoting, they are much higher than the prices that are here anyway. So don’t say they are cheap, it’s not. High price here, $4 and change, cheap is $2 and change.

The prices of the cigarettes are average prices per states and they are from the US government (they publish them each year). Some low quality brands might be significantly cheaper in really small towns, off-license stores.

“And as for this company you are promoting, they are much higher than the prices that are here anyway.”

Again, it depends on the brand and they change what’s on stock and the price constantly. You might get the cheapest, shitiest brand in an off license store in Mississippi cheaper than brand name cigarettes from this store, yes, that can happen.

They change what’s on stock and the price constantly. I will update the screenshot but I’m sure, that ordering online is SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper

i founExcise Duty is a tax on certain goods such as alcohol and tobacco. When you buy excise goods in the UK the price you pay includes this tax. Excise Duty allowances Travellers bringing excise goods into the UK from another EU Member State for their own use do not have to pay UK Excise Duty, provided that the goods were bought duty paid in the other Member State, for example from a supermarket or cash and carry. If you are a traveller bringing excise goods into the UK from outside the EU for your own use, you only have to pay Excise Duty on them if you exceed your duty – free allowance. If alcohol or tobacco products are sent to the UK through the post, for example internet purchases or gifts from family and/or friends, Excise Duty is payable on the whole amount. These rules are different if you’re bringing in excise goods for commercial use. For more information, see the link below.d this online and it says that you have to pay duty on any cigarettes you buy from abroad when they arrive in this country.

I am looking for American Spirit menthol cigarettes for a US purchase do you know where I can go to find them online that is not a fake site? I am glad I found your blog because about 5 minutes ago I almost placed an order on a fake site. I pay about $8.80 out the door at a brick and mortar store.Thanks

I just checked all the websites I know to be genuine, but none of them actually carry American spirits.

/You can check them yourself if you wish, I know these 6 shops to be genuine (ordered + order arrived successfully and on time):

http://www.dutyfreedepot.com/ < -- the best in my opinion, usually has the best prices + regular promos, sales and free international shipping, in operation for 10+ years (shop-by-shop price comparison coming soon)

Thing is, not every tobacco company sells their products online, some only use the traditional -offline- distribution system. I suspect American spirit is one of these tobacco companies. I certainly didn’t see it at any of these places and if it would be available they would have it.

@SimonTheSorcerer – Can you please tell me that do these sites ship to Australia too? I live in Brisbane Australia, and the duty free limit is just 50 cigarette sticks. How is it possible that I will not be charged Australian custom duty if I buy1 cartoon (200 cigs)? Thanks in Advance

I’m not from Australia (and never been to Australia) so it was really not on my mind till you asked. I’m not a lawyer, I’m just a blogger but I did some investigating and this is what I think:

If you exceed your duty-free allowance of course it is no longer duty-free and you would need to declare it to customs and pay the duty tax. However, it is an open secret that most people who order cigarettes online don’t do this. Because it is such a small order customs usually does not care/it does not worth investigating, therefore they can get away with it. And even if you get caught it is only a small fine.

Of course this is illegal, so I must warn you not to do it.

This is what I think how it works. But please ask the online stores about this. And let me know what they tell you.

Legal disclaimer: information only for the purpose of documentation, I’m not a lawyer, this is not legal advice, please don’t do anything illegal, must be 18+ to buy cigarettes and tobacco products

I am in France, so do you have any idea about the delivery of products (cigarettes) from dutyfreedeopt to France. They have notification on their webiste, we are not reposible for certain countries and France is one of them.

What the company means by “notification on their webiste, we are not reposible for certain countries and France is one of them” is that if France was to outlaw buying cigarettes online after your order has been sent, the company is no longer responsible if your order is seized by the customs (because it would be illegal by the time it arrived on the French border). That’s all that means. Also sometimes if people order exorbitant amounts (20 – 100 cartons of cigarettes per order) that is no longer considered for “personal use” and can only be legally imported by companies, because it is considered for “business purposes” and international trade regulations/laws and taxes apply.But that’s usually not a problem because the company sends out larger orders a few cartons at a time.

In short: it’s not yet illegal to buy cigarettes online from abroad in France, don’t worry, but it will be soon.

I’m a strange situation. I’m in the process of moving to Australia and I now despise American ciggs. I’m not concerned with overall cost as I smoke a small amount. However what I do I want to enjoy. Are there any AU sites that ship to the states?

Hello, I’d like to buy Muratti Ambassador cigarettes for a relative. Price is not the issue. We just can’t get them in the US. Is there a legitimate website you recommend that we should buy them from? Do you know anything about suncigarettes.com? Thank you for the help!

Can I ask why do you have to purchase insurance? Surely if your placing the order and paying by Visa card you’re purchase is protected? It seems that it just another additional cost on to your purchase.

Or am I just being tight fisted. I would have thought the onus is on the company to insure delivery. I’m only purchasing 2 packets of tobacco to try this out, as to me this seems a bit too good to be true!!! I’m in the UK. Thanks for your input…

Hi Simon, I’m moving to New Zealand next month and i’ve been told that the duty free allowance has been changed to 50 from 1 carton. If I order a few cartons at once how will they ship it to me because I don’t want to end up wasting a few hundred dollars. Cigarette prices here are NZD $20 a pack so the duty free shop seems like a better option.

There is no need for shouting! I have never met any. If I ever find one I will include it right away. Mastercard does not like to work with websites selling “controlled substances”, and cigarettes definitely belong in that category.

If you find a place that accepts Mastercard please let me know so I can take a look. and if it’s not a SCAM I will include it.

Sorry, just can’t get my head round it all! I live in the uk, so can I buy tobacco from the US , even though Uk customs must know what they are?? Really I’m just fed up being ripped off, our government always finds ways to get your money , one way or another!! Thanks

You keep mentioning that you should not buy from websites that do not accept Credit Card, this is something that I am aware of and have been for years. Although, one of the sites you have mentioned a few times on your site – http://www.dutyfreedepot.com/ Does not accept Mastercard, they only accept Visa. So I think your either giving out false information or this particular site has changed their payment options.

I stumbled onto your blog because my latest order from Duty Free depot did not arrive after more than 3 weeks. It was usually less than two. I emailed the company several days ago and have not gotten a response. I just placed an order with another company. Fingers crossed…

Sorry to hear that. Usually there are no problems. Sometimes they are very slow. If they don’t respond to emails, try calling them – it’s toll fee -.

I can try and speed up the process for you by contacting the few people I know in the inside. I just need your order ID, and the email address you used used to contact them and I will do my best.

Just put them here in the comments section, I won’t publish it as a comment of course, but I will see them and will forward them to the right people, it is the fastest way to contact me. I just don’t like giving out my email address anymore, because of the unbelievable amount of SPAM I receive.

100% legit and cigarettes arrive fresh and safely in 1-2wks for USA buyers.

Tracking info is provided through the local post office and package drop off requires signature.. Could not be more pleased with this cigarette online store for purchasing Dunhill, Rothmans & State Express(555) Cigarettes. Where i live in USA, a pack of cigarettes range from $10-$14 a pack depending upon brand of choice.

Purchasing online averages out to around $4.00 a pack for premium brands that are impossible to find and extremely expensive when purchased locally.

First of all, I have just received a letter saying my 200 cigs have been seized by the customs. I live in the UK. So, I guess I have just lost £40. Why 40, if the website said it would be only £35? Because they charged me usd 53 and it equalled £38 + bank fee for dollar transaction. No hidden costs? Really? I would not recommend dutyfreedepot and will never order again. Scam!!!

Thank you for sharing your experience with us. This is the most important service an independent blog like mine can provide; publishing real reviews (positive or negative) of real people. Thank you! Your review was approved and is published without any alterations.

I’m sad to hear of your bad experience. This is really not the norm, just read the review (comment below yours).

I brought from dutyfreedepot.com about 4-5 weeks past, I consecutively placed orders a week apart. During this process I communicated several times with DFD team. Great response. Yet I did not receive my consignments. So called/email back. Guy was cool and said he’d dispatch first order again (in hopes i receive). Failing that I would receive a refund. So i am happy at the level of conduct. Very professional. Their website could use a few touch ups, it looks just like it did, 10 years ago! Even to the point of me calling them and suggesting they lower their images color pallette to save on bandwidth. It was done about a week later and the guy thanked me (maybe a bit longer then 10 years). Ahh the memories. Good times. I’ll update on the status in a short eon.

Now I’ve ordered from the web networks of direct-dutyfree.com. The cartons arrived here sucessfully, and in good time. Twice even. But dang, I receive phone calls from them at god forsaken hours. One time it was like 4am while I was asleep at family’s. “Sir do you want to buy some viagra”. I was so pissed off (it was like the 6th time they done it to me), I just said look “It’s too early to flame you, i’m going back to sleep”. Then switched my phone off. When i switched it on a few days later. Immediately they continue to harass me constantly with bizarre calls. They bombard my email and flood me with their bs sites. The ban and unban my accounts saying i need a new account for each order. Offer me discounts then take it away. I keep telling them nice and calm, I do not want to do business with you again and to take me off the lists. I mean it’s okay if you make a mistake, but they are plain fools. So in short. *** WORST DAMN EXPERIENCE EVER***

To the best of my knowledge. So far I have only received one report of a customer having his order seized by customs. And I received two reports of people having ordered successfully in just the last 30 days. These reviews should be somewhere in the comments section.

/I should really clean up this comment section. 🙂 OVer 100 comments no wonder you did not find them. It’s getting messy. /

Hi Simon One of the co’s you recommend is freetaxdepot. I placed an order with them because they accept Amex. They emailed me saying that … Before my order can be finalised, they require a copy of my credit card and personal ID. Also stated that this was an added security measure and a ‘one off’ for new customers. Would appreciate your thoughts Feeling just a little twitchy! Robyn

Yes. I have received a few reports like yours from concerned visitors. Even though websites dealing with controlled substances and online casinos do sometimes require a copy of your ID and/or passport and/or credit card. This is standard security procedure to ensure you are 18+ and you are from a country you claim to be from. However, I have removed them from the website because I received some complaints from visitors. I no longer endorse those websites and I no longer use them myself.

I would not recommend providing them with that sensitive information. Even though as I said it is just standard procedure. But I can no longer vouch for them.

I live in the UK and tried to order on this website, but the bank rejected my payment (Barclays). I definitely have money on my account so it’s not that… Im wondering if it’s because the UK banks don’t like to accept payments for controlled substances from overseas? Thoughts?

I live in the US and have been trying to find the yellow american spirit rolling tobacco (its all I smoked in the UK) and they don’t seem to sell it anywhere else. any ideas on where to find it online?

Hi, Simon , for the 2nd time in 2 months I have had my order seized by border control because the order was sent 400 cigarettes in each parcel ( which exceeds the UK allowance ) ! I specifically asked that the 2 nd order be sent one carton at a time to avoid this happening ……… I am totally fed up to say the least , I am sure it says on the website that the cigarettes would be sent out one carton at a time, in intervals to avoid this happening ?? Anyways looks like my card is well and truly marked with border control so no point ordering anymore ……shame really

I think you find that buying cigarettes online is Illegal. I sent for 200 over to America and got a letter from customs saying that they had been taken off me and I would had to pay tax of around $70 which was than the cigarettes were worth, it would have been cheaper to buy them in the supermarkets in the UK. So be careful, maybe customs don’t check every package but its the risk you take, but don’t be surprized if you receive a letter asking for money for tax from customs.

Hi Simon, thanks for the info. I’m from the UK and I love our rolling tobacco better than anything but I live in the US and I was trying to find somewhere to buy tobacco online and your website has helped me out loads thank you. I was wondering if you had a new coupon code because killersale has expired. Oh I also clicked your google + 1 button at the bottom. Thanks again!!!!

Hi just to let you know that i ordered 10 cartons and i have had 3 delivered 1 confiscated at Heathrow by customs because I ordered more than the duty free allowance, and now waiting for the rest to arrive but doubt very much i will get them now they have my name and address.To let potential buyers know that in Britain if you order more than the duty free allowance, 1 carton by post you take the chance that if they are picked out you will loose them unless you are prepared to go through the court to try and get them back,if you loose you will incur court costs,i know cos this has happened to me,so beware.

This is true! It’s never a good idea to order more than the duty free allowance of your country, but especially if you are from the UK yo should stick to it! This is not the first story like this I’ve heard. You can check the duty free allowances here (at the bottom).

Hello Simon, and thank you for doing this! I live in greece and since many years now can’t buy my favorite rolling tobacco anymore: “brown” samson (not the usual “blue” one, nor the pale yellow). I have people bring some to me from switzerland every now and then, but would really like to be able to get it on my own. Do you know of any site which sells this specific samson? (couldnt find it anywhere) Thanks again ang best greatings! tanya

Im from Singapore,i started buying from this dutyfreedepot this mid year. I cannot say they ship fast but i will get the smokes in about 2 weeks time, the smokes always came in.The first time i ordered 2 carton to try,it came & without government tax. The rest of the times i ordered 4 cartons,always came in 2 cartons but sometimes i have to pay tax & gst,not everytime. So it became fair game but when you dont need to pay that extra tax,wow,you are happy! Now i have ordered more than 5 times,they response to my email as well. Also sometimes they have good discount,so if u buying 4 or more cartons,u save quite abit! Last thing is they ship from israel.The tracking number i checked is from israel.

Hi Simon, I’ve found a website called Cheap Tobacco Roll, think they are in Netherlands. They look legit but I’m not sure just wondered if you knew anything about them? Many thanks. Very helpful blog you have.

Hi, Where are the cigarettes shipped from? This is because I live in Ireland so the customs are very strict and scan/open every package containing cigarettes and alcohol – to best of my knowledge they destroy it if outside EU, if within EU maximum 50 packs allowed. Please clarify.

Hi, awesome blog. Thank you 🙂 I’ve read all of the comments but can’t seem to find anyone from Australia with a positive (or negative) outcome?? Really appreciated the info though. Thank you, especially as cigarettes are about $35 a pack (25’s) where I am and we have very few choices. Would love to hear if it works for Australia 🙂 thanks

Finland has very strict and hard cigarette laws nowadays, and it wants to be the first country in the world to criminalize cigarette smoking year 2030. I´d like to buy cigarettes from some EU country, but I am afraid, that Finnish customs won´t let me to do so. Maybe they stop the delivering of the goods? I don´t know, do you?

Hey Simon,the legal age to buy cigarettes in my state is 19 but I fall a year short. If a site allows 18 year olds to buy cigarettes, can I legally purchase from them? I’ve found minimal information on this and a mixed bag of answers. Thank you . My biggest fear is I’d be denied if I’m required to show an ID or that the packaging would be indiscreet.

This is a really great question! I know their packaging is discreet, that’s for sure. But I would suggest waiting one more year just to be sure. Even if you manage to hide your package from the authorities and find a way to get them delivered without needing an ID (and I’m sure their customer support could arrange this for you) – this is still illegal. And I can not support or help people commit illegal activity on my blog, I hope you understand. If somehow authorities get a wind of this you and the seller (and me for helping you) will be in trouble, selling tobacco and alcohol online to minors is something that’s really in the spotlight for the past few years. Just wait one more year and be safe, that’s my advice.

Hi Simon. Good work here mate. Hope you’re getting fair recompense. Have you heard of anyone getting a carton of 5 x 50gm pouches of rolling tobacco into Australia with no probs from customs? Yesterday I paid A$62 retail for 1 x 50g pack and it’s getting higher almost daily. Also, I saw someone mentioned White Ox tobacco. This is very hard to find outside of Oz but perhaps there is a similar brand available? It’s a very strong, dark tobacco, peppery in flavour and quite unique in strength and tasted . I’ve smoked it for 30 years+ and dislike any other brands. The only brand that comes close to being similar is/was Rotterdam Shag, but this is equally hard to find. Any help would be appreciated.

Hello there, living in UK and planning to go on a holiday abroad, outside the EU, can someone tell me exact figures on how much i will pay at the customs for bringing, lets say 1.000 cigarettes (5 sleeves) if local price is around £17 per 200 cigarettes asuming that my duty free allowance is only 200 cigarettes. Thank you in advance.

Hello, Simon. Interesting blog, this. Thanks for all your work. Do you know of any online sites for inexpensive Export ‘A’ cigarettes? Have spent a couple of hours looking; interestingly, lots of sites claim Export ‘A’ in their Google listings but then don’t list them. I know these are Canadian, from the Macdonald Company, and have been around for a long, long time. Looking specifically for the green pack (full-flavored ones), either 20 or 25 to pack. Shudder to think what they go for now at full price, and don’t know what to expect for discounted ones. The only place I actually found was in China (though with a NYC address, too) and required sending a Moneygram, or something like that, to China (not a credit card), and then did not seem to explain a way to do that. I felt skeptical. Hope you might have a tip or two for me. Go well. Nice work on this.

Hello Simon I went to the cigarette depot center you’re talking about and all I see is perfume bottles and so on I tried to click the chat button no results nothing happens. I’m trying to buy cigarettes on line because of the high prices but I’m really afraid of fraudulent websites, one of your recommendations is if you cant contact the website don’t buy, well it seems I can’t contact your website either. I wonder if I’m doing something wrong or clicking on the wrong place. Can you please send me a direct contact so that I can call them or talk to them about my needs? Thank you

I recently bought some Gitanes in Belgium. They don’t taste like Gitanes. I want to order real Gitane cigarettes. How do I do that and know I am getting the authentic ones? I am in the US. These taste awful and are surely some kind of imitations.

Have emailed Duty Free without a response. Also tried phoning and gave up after trying twice…waited fourteen rings twice and no one answered. So if anyone does have a problem with their order it may be impossible to correct.

Yep, they closed down a month or so ago. If you click on any of the banners on this site, or any link that would take you to their website you will get to this page instead. It is explained on this page what happened them and the other online shop.